1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a test support device, a testing device, a test support method and a computer program, capable of appropriately selecting a test node at which a snapshot is to be acquired to return processing so as to enable the execution of test scenarios in the shortest time.
2. Background of the Invention
In the recent development of computer programs, the desire to add various functions grows in order to differentiate a product, and hence source code is becoming mammoth. In order to run a computer program consisting of an enormous amount of source code normally, a test needs to be executed securely without omission. Therefore, the way of executing the test on a completed computer program efficiently and securely is becoming too important to ignore in terms of the development costs.
To this end, many support software and support methods for dynamically changing and configuring test scenarios have been developed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-207248 ('248 Publication) discloses a behavior generation method for a parallel program, which analyzes, for each execution path of the program, the dependence relationship between the respective statements included in threads to determine based on the dependence relationship whether to execute an unexecuted execution path. In the '248 Publication, the parallel program can be executed based on the dependence relationship between the respective statements to be processed in parallel along efficient execution paths without generating unnecessary execution paths.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-500647 ('647 Publication) discloses a re-launching method using history information, in which history information contains a historical snapshot. Information on the state of a dynamic application associated with execution of the application is acquired, and the acquired history information is used upon re-launching of the application to enable earlier re-launching of the application. In the '647 Publication, use of the historical snapshot eliminates the need to initialize all resources upon re-launching, enabling earlier completion of re-launching.
However, as in the '248 Publication, grasping all dependence relationships for each statement results in grasping dependence relationships between test nodes in a test on a computer program, presenting practical difficulties in implementation. Further, when an error has occurred, it is also difficult to determine the range of test scenarios affected by the error that has occurred.
Further, use of a historical snapshot as in the '647 Publication can lead to determining a return point from an end test node and a return point upon occurrence of an error in the test on the computer program. However, it takes a predetermined time to acquire the historical snapshot. Therefore, as the scale of an application increases, it becomes important to determine at which test node the historical snapshot is to be acquired. Since historical snapshots of all resources are acquired, the concept of limiting test nodes to be acquired is not present therein.